Sydney (VNA) – Vietnam’s Ministry ofAgriculture and Rural Development and Australia’s Department of Agriculture andWater Resources signed two agreements at the second high-level agriculturalpolicy dialogue in Canberra on May 8.

The signed documents comprise a Letter ofIntent on a strategy for agricultural research in 2017-2027 and a Memorandum ofUnderstanding on the prevention of illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing(IUU).

Under the co-chair of Vietnamese Deputy Ministerof Agriculture and Rural Development Le Quoc Doanh and Australian DeputySecretary of Agriculture and Water Resources Malcolm Thompson, the two sidesreviewed the bilateral cooperation in agriculture and discussed various issuesto boost farm produce trade such as approaching and opening markets for animaland plant products and devising policies for technical assistance.

They mentioned cooperation in fisheries andforestry in the coming time and shared policy priorities and challenges inagricultural research and development, water resources management, and organicfood.

Additionally, the two sides studied coordinationmechanisms among working groups in specific fields along with the provision ofofficial development assistance (ODA), and the enhancement of scientificresearch.

Deputy Secretary Thompson reiterated thecommitment of the Australian government to promoting agricultural ties withVietnam, as evidenced by the assignment of a counsellor of agriculture at theAustralian Embassy in Vietnam from 2016.

The relations between Australia and Vietnam aswell as between Australia and other Southeast Asian countries have developedstrongly in recent years, which are backed by the ASEAN-Australia Free TradeAgreement and the Comprehensive and Progressive Trans-Pacific Partnership(CPTPP) recently signed between the 11 countries. 

Thompson added that Australia will closely workwith Vietnam in multilateral organisations to which they are members.

Meanwhile, Deputy Minister Le Quoc Doanhhighlighted the comprehensive development in relations between Vietnam andAustralia.

Particularly, the agricultural cooperationbetween Vietnam and Australia has been promoted over the past few years with practicaloutcomes recorded, he said, adding that there is a lot of potential forstronger collaboration in the field.

The deputy minister noted the success of the firsthigh-level dialogue policy on agriculture between Vietnam and Australia inNovember 2016 with the establishment of three working groups.

He hoped the two sides will step up technicalsupport in agricultural cooperation and seek measures to boost bilateral tradeto raise the trade turnover of farm produce soon.

Doanh asked Australia to re-open its market forVietnamese fresh shrimp and reiterated the commitment of Vietnamese competentagencies to work with Australia to address this issue, he said.

Australia affirmed its plan to soon send adelegation to Vietnam to inspect the country’s safe and disease-free shrimpproduction chains and assess Vietnam’s testing capacity, towards allowingVietnam to export fresh shrimp to its market.

Thompson added that Australia will activelyconsider the import of Vietnamese fresh longans.

Additionally, the Australian Centre forInternational Agricultural Research (ACIAR) said it will continuously work withVietnam to implement its strategy for agricultural research in 2017-2027 in theSoutheast Asian country.

The centre will send a working delegation toVietnam to build a master plan relating to six priority fields including foodsafety and hygiene, climate change, land fertility, efficiency of cultivationand livestock systems, market connectivity, forestry, and aquaculture, whichwill be carried out in the northwest and Mekong Delta regions of Vietnam.

The second high-level policy dialogue onagriculture between Vietnam and Australia took place as part of the workingvisit to Australia from May 7-11 by a delegation from the Ministry ofAgriculture and Rural Development led by Deputy Minister Le Quoc Doanh.

During their stay in Australia, the delegationhad a working session with Minister of Agriculture and Water Resources DavidLittleproud and made a fact-finding tour to Wagga Wagga – a leading agriculturalcentre in Australia’s New South Wales state.-VNA